Assemblywoman Yang Hyang-ja Holds Public Hearing on Legislation for Fostering Future Cars

Promotion of Research and Development and Business Transformation Legislation Proposal

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] To directly support the transition of the future car industry, a bill is being promoted not only for research and development but also for supporting business transformation and demand creation.

Yang Hyang-ja, a member of the National Assembly (Democratic Party of Korea, Gwangju Seo-gu Eul), announced on the 6th that a public hearing will be held for the enactment of the "Act on the Promotion and Support of the Future Automobile Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the Future Automobile Industry Act).

The public hearing will be held on the 12th at 3:30 PM at the Gwangju Green Car Promotion Agency.

The Future Automobile Industry Act was promoted based on the judgment that it is necessary to designate future car industry clusters and provide special support so that the regional parts industry can smoothly transition to the future car industry while creating synergy through industrial concentration.

Currently, the future car industry is a comprehensive industry that integrates automobiles, ICT, and ITS. Experts believe that it is difficult for existing domestic parts companies to successfully transition the industry independently.

The future car industry, represented by CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Service, Electric Drive), poses challenges to the automobile parts industry, and companies that fail to transition will inevitably be eliminated.

Although an organically linked support system for technology development, workforce training, demand creation, and business transformation is necessary, there is a lack of legal grounds for supporting the future car industry.

Automobile-related laws are also fragmented across ministries. Accordingly, there has been a strong demand from the industry to establish legal grounds for industrial statistics, technology status, technology development roadmap establishment and execution, and support scope.

Assembly member Yang said, "It inevitably requires a lot of budget and effort for existing domestic small and medium-sized parts companies, which are mainly machine-centered, to transition to the future car industry," adding, "Rapid government support is urgently needed for parts that the industry finds difficult to perform independently, such as securing technology and workforce, discovering revenue models, and obtaining certification and supply qualifications."

She also stated, "With the spread of innovation in core future car technologies, the industrial structure is accelerating its reorganization to coexist and cooperate with battery and IT companies, moving away from the existing complete vehicle-centered structure," and added, "We plan to immediately promote legislation reflecting the various opinions raised at this public hearing."

Meanwhile, the public hearing will be chaired by Professor Naju Mong of Chonnam National University. Presentations will be given by Dr. Yoo Si-bok of the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, and discussions will include Son Kyung-jong, Director of the Artificial Intelligence Industry Bureau of Gwangju Metropolitan City, Seo Gil-won, Director of the Future Automobile Industry Division at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Kim Ju-hong, Executive Director of the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association.